Monday morning and we are down for breakfast in the dining room. They served a continental breakfast on the bow deck but in the dining room it was the full works, including pancakes and omelettes cooked to order.
Our excursion that morning was a coach trip into Nuremberg, including a trip to Reichsparteitagsgelände where Hitler held his rallies before the war. This was not the highlight of the excursion for me as we just stood in this group for 15 minutes while our guide showed photographs and talked about Hitler.
Following this things improved and we made our way to the old walled town. The coach dropped us off at the top of the town at the entrance to the castle. The first thing to catch the eye is this very large grain store just inside the walls.
Access to the castle is across the moat and then through a long tunnel.
This was so the
defending troops could first shoot at them and if they managed to cross the bridge then pour oil etc. over them in the tunnel. If by any chance they managed to clear that they ended up in a square surrounded by high walls where again they could be shot at. The town wall that ran all the way round the old town had lookout posts every so often. The one at the castle somehow managed to survive the allied bombings. Originally these towers where square but then clad in a round wall so as to deflect canon balls better.
The castle is on the highest point of the town as can be seen by the views across the roof tops.
It is actually constructed on a rock which forms the main foundation for the castle itself.
As you can see we are now a great deal lower and walking into the old town and the river. After a a guided tour of the town we had a bit of free time to explore the old town. It is said that the gold ring installed in this screen was put in by trainee worker who’s boss said he wasn’t good enough to marry his daughter
.
The town also had a very good street market with a great selection of vegetables and fungi.
Around mid day we returned to the boat for a very enjoyable 3 course lunch with drinks of course and set sail along the canal, at this point we would be travelling uphill.
One of the first boats we met had been fitted with side rollers to help it navigate the locks.
Like us it also had a telescopic bridge to pass under all the low bridges along here, this meant our sundeck was closed for several days while travelling.
It wasn’t long before we were approaching Leerstetten lock where we had to wait for a boat to leave before we could enter.
These locks are quite deep at 24.6 Mt. and as our boat is such a close fit it didn’t use any ropes in the lock although the locks are fitted with rising bollards. 
Another feature of these deep locks is that they are built with “Side Ponds” to save water and they are referred to as “Eco Locks” these reduce the water usage by two thirds but make the lock quite slow to operate. As the lock empties, water is first drained from the chamber into the side ponds and stored, the last third is lost to the the canal below the lock. When the lock is refilled this water is used first to fill it, only the last third is drained from the canal above.
The workmen's huts on the continent always amuse me, I think they look like something from the 1940s that would be towed behind a steamroller. Not only do you see them by the waterways but also at every roadwork’s site you pass.
This waterway is not just for pleasure boats although there are a lot of them plying up and down on a very regular basis, there is still a healthy freight business as can be seen by some of the boats we met.
These also require the canal side infrastructure to service them.
We were to continue up the flight and across the summit level that evening, which is only 17 Km long, before starting to drop down the other side towards the river Danube, travelling through the night.
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